[Game Review] Crap! I’m Broke: Out of Pocket

Crap! I’m Broke: Out of Pocket is a multi-awarded life management simulation game released in 2016 by Arcane Circus. It won 3rd Place for “Big Indie Pitch” in Apps World London (2015), 4th Place for “Very Big Indie Pitch” in Pocket Gamer Connects London (2016), and 1st Place for “Best Mobile Game” in AMG Award (2016).

Story + Gameplay

Crap! I’m Broke is quite possibly one of the most realistic games you can play. Following an unnamed character, you move in to a new place for the first time. Your source of news and communication comes from e-mails, including bonuses from your parents, and bills you have to pay for random yet realistic things that happen in real life.

Your character realizes the amount of bills he has to pay per month, so you take on all sorts of jobs in the form of mini-games just to make ends meet. You have the opportunity to buy perks and items to unlock more jobs, and even choose a new year’s resolution — which means saving enough money by the end of the year to be able to achieve it (i.e. visiting your family, going on a safari, etc.). Doing so lets you unlock lifetime memories.

Crap! I’m Broke is only available on iOS and Android phones, with numerous jobs/mini-games like cleaning dishes and even street performing. If you’re able to save enough spare time, earning enough to cover bills for the next month, you can also unlock micro-games, also known as “games to play on your phone”… 😅

On top of saving money to pay off your bills, you also have to make sure you don’t starve. Food also costs money. Don’t the situations of the game sound so familiar?

Art + Music

The game makes use of comic panels to tell short stories with a cubist art style, keeping colors monochromatic but with an accent.

Throughout the game, your character is animated, running to different places you can do jobs, with each place offering a new color to give off a new feel considering the slight blandness of color. As you go around, your hunger goes down and the closer it is to emptying, a grim reaper slowly appears, following you around.

The micro-games are a little difficult to understand as they have them in a kind of pixelated format, but the concepts are also cute: “Brofist or handshake?”. Coupled with a jazzy soundtrack, the game becomes a lot lighter despite the circumstances.

Conclusion

I was drawn to the game because of the interesting art style, coupled with such an interesting name. It gets really addicting to play, though a bit routine but I think that’s really the point.

Crap! I’m Broke makes for a very fun casual game you can return to every now and again, if you’re up for a little bit of time pressure. Months are counted in around a minute with you needing to earn enough and even get employee of the month. Though I wish there was a little something more to make the routine playing a little more exciting, like meeting another broke person and competing with them.